Film Preview: Terminator: Genisys (2015)

Poster

Poster #1

Additional posters can be found below.

Trailer Link

Release Date:

July 1, 2015

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “After finding himself in a new time-line, Kyle Reese teams up with John Connor’s mother Sarah and an aging terminator to try and stop the one thing that the future fears, “Judgement Day”.”

Poster: B / C / C+ (2) / C / B / C+ (5) / C / C+ / B- / D+

Review: (#1) For fans of the franchise, this should be sufficient to pique their interest. For everyone else, it’ll be interesting, but unexciting.

(#2) Another design for fans of the franchise, this one uses and oft-repeated tagline to set itself up and it works for what it is, even if the rest of the design utterly plain.

(#3 & #4) These two designs feel like they flow together even though they have slightly distinct styles. Neither is particularly energizing, however. (#5) Arnie seems like the selling point for the film even if he’s not the real reason to see it. (#6) This is an interesting take on the traditional action/adventure poster design. It’s visually striking and makes a nice balance to the more meager designs presented.

(#7-#11) I like when character posters offer a rich array of backgrounds and poses. The unfortunate part is when the combination still doesn’t make them seem that exciting. (#12) It looks almost like a stale teaser design that has been adapted to a final product with very little excitement or realism, at least as much realism as a film like this can possess. (#13) Normally white backgrounds just blind the viewer and present no interesting choices. However, this design does a decidedly good job of creating rich detail against a striking backdrop.

(#14) While it may not mean a lot at face value, it’s a fairly interesting and striking design. (#15) On the other hand, this poster is generic, boring and lifeless.

Trailer: B- / B

Review: (#1) Conjuring up images and phrases from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the film goes out of its way to re-cast all the principle roles and make this look like it’s going to re-write that high-water mark, which would be a mistake. The one-liners are unnecessary and it’s impossible to tell if they are going to have more paradoxes than the originals did.

(#2) There isn’t a lot of new data in the new trailer, but it’s still an interesting test of how to sell a franchise continuance so many years after the last film was released. It uses familiar catch phrases and resurrects well known scenes, which is all fans could really hope for. The broader audience, however, might not be that interested.